Chapter 443: Variety show with great potential

Chapter 443: Variety show with great potential

Chapter 443 A variety show with great potential

Three days later, in a nightclub in North Point, Qi Ruifan was sitting leisurely in a private room, with several men and a middle-aged woman next to him; the strange thing was that although this was a nightclub, there were no young women accompanying him.

Qi Ruifan took a sip of strong tea and said, "Mr. Wang, the price I offer is pretty good. I hope we can reach an agreement as soon as possible. If not, then TVB will organize a beauty pageant on its own."

Although there was no time requirement for the task assigned by the boss himself, as a professional manager, the sooner the better. Therefore, after Yang Wendong left three days ago, he immediately used his connections to find the person behind the Ritz Nightclub in North Point to negotiate the purchase of the rights to host the Miss Hong Kong event.

However, this is Yang Wendong's request, so he will naturally not tell the other party about this matter, otherwise the other party will definitely raise the price. This is how all businessmen are.

Wang Junsheng, the owner of the Ritz Nightclub, said with a smile, "Qi Sheng, I am very happy that our Miss Hong Kong event has been noticed by TVB. The price doesn't need to be that high. I can ask for half of it, but there is one condition?"

"What conditions?" Qi Ruifan frowned. This kind of condition is usually not a good thing.

Wang Junsheng said, "I hope to invest half of my funds and get a share of the future Miss Hong Kong activities, but Qisheng, don't worry, we don't want more, not half, 30% is enough."

"Mr. Wang, do you think your request is possible?" Qi Ruifan said with a faint smile, "Whether it is Miss Hong Kong or other activities, TVB will gather the resources of the TV station and even Changxing Group to promote the items. Mr. Wang, if you can provide similar resources, we can discuss it."

"This..." Wang Junsheng was stunned for a moment, then smiled awkwardly and said, "Qi Sheng, this Miss Hong Kong event is also a long-term meal ticket for me, so I just want to ensure a stable income."

"I'll give you enough cash so you can invest in other long-term stable income." Qi Ruifan said, "But it's impossible for you to participate in my Changxing Group's business. It's better to be realistic. I'll give you two more days. If you agree, then it's a deal. If not, I'll just change the name of the beauty pageant program."

"Qi Sheng, don't worry." Wang Junsheng said hurriedly: "I accept this price."

He is also a smart man. If TVB organizes its own beauty pageant, who will watch his? This is a choice between two options: either his Miss Hong Kong pageant will die completely, or he should sell it now while there is still a "Miss Hong Kong" title.

TVB’s offer was quite acceptable, at least it was equal to the profits from the Miss Hong Kong pageant held over the past decade, so it was not a loss.

"Okay then." Qi Ruifan said to someone beside him, "Lawyer Chen, I'll leave this matter to you."

Lawyer Chen immediately agreed and said, "Okay, Mr. Qi."

On May 5, Yang Wendong received good news from Qi Ruifan.

"Mr. Yang, we have already obtained the rights to host the Miss Hong Kong event." Qi Ruifan said with a smile.

"How much did it cost?" Yang Wendong asked casually.

Qi Ruifan replied, "65. I first arranged for someone to check the approximate data of the Ritz Club's profits last year, and then multiplied it by 10 to give him the price."

"10 times? This shouldn't be a very high return, right?" Yang Wendong asked, "Is this nightclub so easy to agree to?"

Qi Ruifan said with a smile: "Because they know that once we start this activity, it will be meaningless for him to be a small nightclub and Miss Hong Kong, so they have to give up. But I am also fair and gave them a reasonable price."

"Okay, this is how we should do business." Yang Wendong nodded and said.

Doing business does not require mercy, but some special means must be accompanied by sufficient profits. For example, if you attack a large British trading company today, you will naturally use any means necessary, because the profits are sufficient and the opponent is still British.

For a small business, friendly cooperation is needed. There is no need to damage the reputation for a little profit.

"Yes." Qi Ruifan said, "Then I will prepare to promote the Miss Hong Kong event on TVB, and also promote it through Changxing Media, inviting women from all over Hong Kong to participate in the Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant."

"When will the event be ready?" Yang Wendong asked again.

Qi Ruifan replied: "The finals are expected to be held in October or November, because it is close to the end of the year, but the temperature is just right, not too cold or too hot, which is also suitable for beauty pageant contestants and audiences to participate in the show with peace of mind."

"But in this case, the previous preliminaries will be useless, and they will soon be hot." Yang Wendong paused and said, "Although the core of the Miss Hong Kong election is the finals, the preliminaries are the content that takes up the most time for us;

No matter how exciting the final is, it only lasts for a few moments, but building momentum in the early stages is more important, and we can even make good use of the preliminaries to organize many interactive activities with the audience.”

"Interactive activities?" Qi Ruifan asked with some confusion.

Yang Wendong asked with a smile: "Lao Qi, let me ask you a question first. How do you think TVB can make money from events like the Miss Hong Kong pageant?"

"Ratings." Qi Ruifan replied: "As long as the ratings are high enough, it will be profitable for the TV station. Advertisers will naturally be willing to pay more for advertising, and they can even provide some sponsorship.
We will then sign the Miss Hong Kong contestants or those who have performed well, and they can participate in the filming of movies and TV series, or take on advertisements on their own.”

The current TV drama model in Hong Kong is naturally learned from overseas. In the United States and even Japan, the profit model of TV stations can be said to be very clear.

"That's indeed possible." Yang Wendong agreed, "But this is just a way for any normal program to make money. There are actually other ways for this kind of competition. For example, we can let Changxing Media publish a voting page in the newspaper and let users participate in the voting. Voters have to buy the newspaper and mail it, which costs money. As long as we negotiate with the relevant parties, can't we get a share of the profits?
Or, we can let users vote by phone, so that we can negotiate with the Hong Kong telephone company and share the profits with them? Right?"

The traffic monetization operation that the Internet industry played out in the past life can no longer be done in this era, but the principle is similar. As long as enough people like and watch any person or variety show, there must be a way to monetize traffic. The difference is how to find this model. In the past life, QQ was not favored by any capital in the early stage, but it took off directly after finding a profit model.
Qi Ruifan's eyes lit up and he said, "What a good idea! If tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people really watch our show, then there will definitely be a lot of people willing to participate."

"Yes, but we can't expect them to just vote without any return." Yang Wendong added: "If we want to encourage them to participate in mail-in newspaper voting or telephone voting, we also need to inform the whole of Hong Kong that those who participate in these programs will eventually be lucky enough to receive generous cash rewards."

"Similar to the Jockey Club?" Qi Ruifan asked.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Yes, it's similar to the Jockey Club. The principle of the Jockey Club being able to make huge profits is actually similar, but theirs is official and unique, and we can't participate;
But we have a TV station, so even if we can’t run lotteries or horse racing tickets, we can still imitate similar activities.”

Although many laws in Hong Kong today are still imperfect, there are still some that protect the monopoly rights of British capital. Electricity, docks, tap water, gas, telephones, etc. are all controlled by British capital, and the same is true for the Jockey Club.

If it weren't for the decline of the British mainland, the TV station would not have been controlled by Chinese capital.

Qi Ruifan said: "If you think this way, then we will have many more profitable models in the future."

Yang Wendong said: "It's not that easy. If you want to do this kind of activity, you must have a very popular program. I guess TVB's future Miss Hong Kong election or Spring Festival Gala will be able to have similar operations. It's difficult for other programs.

This is thanks to the fact that Hong Kong is a city with only one or two major TV stations, so the cost of promoting such an event is not high. If it were a country like the United States or Japan, where there are so many TV stations competing fiercely, it would not be possible to have the conditions to organize such an event for several years.”

A small place also has its advantages. When there is not much competition for entertainment programs, then one interesting one can attract people from the entire place. On the contrary, in a big country like the United States, it would be much more difficult.

Of course, there are some popular variety shows, such as "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", "Super Winner", "X Country Idol", "Wild Survival", etc., or there were some in the mainland in the past, such as "The Voice of China". These variety shows have the ability to become popular all over the world or at least in some regions.

However, TVB does not have the ability to launch these programs at present. It will have to wait until there are more talented people and a sufficient audience base before launching them. What they want is for them to be an instant hit and then export the copyrights overseas. This is also necessary because it is impossible to send programs shot in Hong Kong to Europe, the United States, and Japan for broadcast. The only way to maximize profits is to sell copyrights.

There are even some special variety shows that cannot be produced in Hong Kong and can only be operated overseas. We will talk about this later. These programs will definitely not be given priority.

"Mr. Yang is right, I thought it was too simple." Qi Ruifan also said.

Yang Wendong added: "Also, TVB doesn't have a dedicated competition venue, right?"

Qi Ruifan replied: "No, that's exactly what I wanted to say. I can be casual during the preliminaries, but for the finals, it's better to have a good venue. Even if I can find a hotel this year, it may not be possible in the future.

In the long run, we still need a large venue that can accommodate a large number of customers and a booth, and we also need to do our best in terms of lighting, sound, and filming;
Such a place is not only needed for the Miss Hong Kong pageant, but also for many variety shows and performances in the future, and can even undertake other external businesses.”

"Okay, that's a good idea." Yang Wendong nodded, then picked up the phone and dialed a number.

After a while, Zheng Zhijie from Changxing Real Estate came over and said, "Mr. Yang, Mr. Qi."

Yang Wendong said: "TVB has a demand. Do you have such a large area of ​​land?"

"I'm afraid it's gone. We cashed it out last year." Zheng Zhijie replied, "But the housing prices are falling sharply right now. It's not a problem for us to buy a piece of land like this. It's just that the land price hasn't reached the lowest point yet. After we buy it, the land price will fall, which will result in a loss."

"It doesn't matter. It's just a piece of land. The loss won't be that much." Yang Wendong said nonchalantly, "This matter is related to the development of TVB, or the future overseas expansion of Hong Kong's cultural industry. We don't need to worry about the gains and losses of a little bit of real estate."

It is true that land prices have not bottomed out, but we can only say that the demand for unimportant real estate purchases can be stopped. However, the important things will naturally not wait until two years later, as many businesses will be out of business by then.

Besides, the loss is only compared with 67. After the real estate crisis was over, in 70, the land price was higher than it is now. In 80s and 90s, it was more than ten times the current price. A small loss on the books is nothing compared to the more than ten times increase in the future. It's like spending ten yuan to buy Bitcoin today, it will fall to three yuan in a month, and it will be ten thousand dollars in a few years. A 3% drop doesn't make much sense.

"Okay." Zheng Zhijie looked at Qi Ruifan and asked, "Mr. Qi, where would you like to build this studio?"

Qi Ruifan thought for a moment and said, "The best location is still in Tseung Kwan O, close to our headquarters, and many actors also live in Tseung Kwan O now, so it will be much more convenient."

Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "Okay, I'll arrange for someone to inquire about where there is suitable land. If there is none, we can also apply to the Hong Kong government to buy land. Now that house prices have fallen sharply, auctions are not selling, so we should be able to get a piece of land."

Yang Wendong said: “Whether you ask other people to buy it or apply to the Hong Kong government, you must build a large one, complete it in one go, and be able to meet demand for decades to come;
In addition, we need to build an underground parking lot or acquire more land to build a parking lot next to it. I still believe that actors from TVB or Changxing Film Company will be able to afford cars in the future, so it will be more convenient to have a place to park for various activities.”

Putting aside my own promotion, even according to the original historical development, it is normal for Hong Kong stars to buy cars, but many old buildings have no parking lots, which is very troublesome, so we have to prepare early.

"No problem." Zheng Zhijie agreed. Changxing Real Estate has been in a "hibernation" state for a while. Now that a project has finally come along, they naturally have to do it well.

"Okay, hurry up." Yang Wendong added, "It's okay if we don't make it in time for the Miss Hong Kong pageant in November, but I hope to hold the Spring Festival Gala next year in a new venue."

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)